What is a FAT32

[Guest]

I just want to know what a FAT32 is And A partion or what ever that 'p' word
is...What does it mean when my system is running my C drive under a FAT32

 

[James Silverton]

Hello, Help!
You wrote on Fri, 6 Oct 2006 06:02:02 -0700:

Hn> I just want to know what a FAT32 is And A partion or what
Hn> ever that 'p' word is...What does it mean when my system is
Hn> running my C drive under a FAT32

I think this in the category of questions whose answers you can
find out all by yourself; what used to be indicated in years
gone by RTFM. Try searching for FAT32 in the Help and Support
Center.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

FAT32 is a format for a hard drive that first appeared in Windows 95 OSR2..
it is a format readable by a Windows 9x startup diskette..

The native format for a hard drive running Windows NT/2000/XP is NTFS, but
all three operating systems will read FAT32 as well..

FAT32 still has its uses.. if a hard drive is shared by Win 9x and the NT
family, FAT32 will enable it to be seen by all.. Dual boot systems where Win
9x is one of the operating systems also requires that Win 9x is installed on
a FAT32 partition/drive..

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I just want to know what a FAT32 is

First it's not "a" FAT32, but just FAT32.

FAT stands for "File Allocation Table" and it's one of the methods of
organizing data on a disk drive. FAT comes in three "flavors": FAT12, FAT16,
and FAT32. The number stands for the size of the entry in the file
allocation table. Before FAT32 was available, all hard drive were FAT16, and
it wasn't necessary to specify the number, so FAT16 is sometimes called just
"FAT."

The details of how FAT works probably aren't important to you, but google
can get you more information if you want it. Suffice it say that it's a
method of organizaing files on a drive so the software can find them.

Another method of doing similar organization, and a better one, is called
NTFS. That's the native system used by Windows XP, although XP also supports
all three flavors of FAT. Again, google for the details if you want them.

And A partion or what ever that
'p' word is...

"Partition." A partition is some part of a disk drive. All drives have to
have at least one partition on them before they can be used. Think of a disk
drive as a file cabinet, and partitions as drawers within the cabinet. You
put files in the drawers, not in the cabinet itself. A cabinet, like a disk,
has to have at least one drawer before you can put anything in it. Disks
have to have one or more partitions within them before they can be used.
They are identified by letters like C:, D: etc.

What does it mean when my system is running my C drive
under a FAT32

Again, not "a" FAT32, just "FAT32." It means it's using that older form of
organization, rather than the newer, better NTFS.